Kirstin DeArruda Wharton and Dr. Edward Ehlinger, Minnesota Commissioner of Health, discuss some of the programs the Active Living Steering Committee has begun in Cook County. Ehlinger met with a group of 18 Cook County residents and a big fat woodchuck at the Community Garden in the Grand Marais Recreation Park. The woodchuck was an uninvited guest.
Dr. Edward Ehlinger, Commissioner of Health for the State of Minnesota, came to Grand Marais on July 30 to hear stories about how SHIP grants have improved health in the community. SHIP is an acronym for the Statewide Health Improvement Program. SHIP’s goal is to encourage people to exercise more and make better choices about what they eat and drink.
To that end, SHIP works with county and local government to make the county a safe and active community by helping plan safe walking routes, seeing that speed bumps are placed where needed, encouraging speed monitoring signs near schools and hosting bike rallies for kids, among many other things.
Ehlinger, along with his assistant, Commissioner Jean Ayers, met with 18 people and one fat woodchuck at the Grand Marais Rec Park community garden on a cool Tuesday evening.
Standing behind a lush garden, Dave Tersteeg, Grand Marais Recreation Park manager, talked about the community’s positive response to the planting, weeding, and care of the community vegetable garden.
As people told stories about the programs SHIP grants have helped initiate in Cook County, Minnesota Commissioner of Health, Dr. Edward Ehlinger and his assistant, Jean Ayers, listened attentively. Standing with them are (L-R) Heidi Doo-Kirk, Kimber Wraalstad, Margo Furcht, and Rita Plourde.
Not only are the vegetables healthy to eat, the act of gardening itself helps to maintain physical and mental health, said one man in attendance as others nodded in agreement.
Midway through the proceeding, Tersteeg heard a commotion in the back of the garden, then spotted a very plump woodchuck munching on vegetables. The woodchuck appeared to be enjoying the speeches as he/she ate, fully embracing the art of active living. Tersteeg chased him/her back out a hole and then placed several bricks in the way to block it.
Kirstin DeArruda Wharton, RN/ PHN and the local Active Living Steering Committee coordinator, gave an explanation of the Safe Routes to School program and the coming together of the county and the city to make sure certain streets get plowed first so kids can walk safely to school.
That positive interaction between civic, local, county and state governments is the reason that SHIP programs can and do work, said Ehlinger, noting that several communities statewide are rebuilding their SHIP programs because not all of the necessary bridges to success have been established.
“As you know, SHIP isn’t a program that has a lot of money. It can only work if all of the parties work together for the good of the community, and from what you have said, you have that here,” said Ehlinger.
Margo Furcht, a physical therapist and one of the first people to work with SHIP in the county, said she appreciated all of the hard work SHIP had done to collaborate with School District 166 Head Cook Linda Bockovich to bring better school lunches to ISD 166. “Now I don’t have to pack lunches for my kids. They are getting fed very nutritious food at school and I really appreciate that as a parent,” said Furcht.
Both Furcht and Wharton talked about how positively Bockovich and her crew have been about the changes in food served at school.
Cook County Commissioner Heidi Doo-Kirk talked about getting sugary pop pulled from the machines at the court house, and hospital administrator Kimber Wraalstad said that pop was replaced with water or nutritious drinks in the hospital vending machines. All a small part of helping people make better choices about what they put into their bodies, noted Wraalstad.
Cook County Commissioner Sue Hakes spoke about the collaboration between the city, school and county to bring about the building of the YMCA that is being attached to the school. Cook County Commissioner Garry Gamble cited some statistics that showed that although people are living longer, they are not necessarily healthier, and that is often because of the bad choices they make in eating, he said.
All in all, it was a good exchange of information, and Ehlinger encouraged the people speaking to share their stories with their legislators and to continue to work together to enhance living standards for the community.
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